Archibald Stark, Jr.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Biography: ARCHIBALD STARK was born at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1697, and received his education at the University of that city. At an early age he removed, with his father and family, to Londonderry, Ireland, where he married Eleanor Nichols, the daughter of a Scottish emigrant. In 1720 he embarked with a company of adventurers for New Hampshire, whither a considerable party of his countrymen had previously proceeded, to form a settlement. After a tedious voyage, during which all his children died, the emigrants arrived at Boston late in autumn. As many of them were ill with the small-pox they were not permitted to land, and were, in consequence, compelled to depart for the wilds of Maine. At a place called Sheepscot, near the site of the present town of Wiscasset, they endured their first trial of the horrors of a northern winter in the forests of New England. In the course of the year following, after encountering and enduring many severe hardships and privations, they joined their Scottish friends, who had preceded them, at Nutfield (now Londonderry, N.H.), then a wilderness, rendered hideous by the frequent incursions of hostile savages, who, at that period, and for many succeeding years, harrassed the frontiers. His house in Londonderry having been burned in 1736, he, in consequence, removed to that portion of land on the Merrimack River, then known as Harrytown, and settled upon a lot, which had been granted to Samuel Thaxter by the government of Massachusetts, a short distance above the Falls of Amoskeag. There several of his friends soon afterward followed him, and the new location received the name of Derryfield. Several sons and daughters were born to him, after his arrival in America, to whom, at his fireside, he gave the best education his own acquirements and the circumstances of the times would permit. "His education fitted him for the walks of civil life, yet," says the Historian of Manchester, "we find him a volunteer for the protection of the frontier against the ravages of the Indians in 1745; and for the protection of the people in his immediate neighborhood, a fort was built at the outlet of Swager's, or Fort Brook, which, in compliment to his enterprise in erecting and garrisoning the same, was called Stark's Fort." His sons were William, John, Samuel, and Archibald, who all held commissions in the British service during the "Seven Years" or "French War," and were distinguished for good conduct, coolness and bravery. William, the eldest, served with reputation on the northern frontiers, and, under General Wolfe, in the expeditions to Louisburgh and Quebec, where his courage and address rendered signal services. He afterward tarnished his well earned fame by joining the British army at New York. In 1776 he obtained the rank of colonel of dragoons, but was soon afterward killed by a fall from his horse. A stone, in the old burial ground at Manchester, bears this inscription: "Here Lyes The Body of Mr. ARCHIBALD STARK. He Departed This Life June 25, 1758, Aged 61 Years."
• Emigration: 1720, New Hampshire; Arrived in New England.

Archibald married Eleanor Nichols. Eleanor was born about 1697 in Londonderry, Ireland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]